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The Australian Army was the largest service in the Australian military during World War II. Prior to the outbreak of war the Australian Army was split into the small full-time Permanent Military Forces (PMF) and the larger part-time Militia. Following the outbreak of war, on 14 September 1939 Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced that 40,000 members of the Militia would be called up for training and a 20,000-strong expeditionary force, designated the Second Australian Imperial Force (Second AIF), would be formed for overseas service. Meanwhile, conscription was introduced in October 1939 to keep the Militia at strength as its members volunteered for the AIF. The Australian Army subsequently made an important contribution to the Allied campaigns in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa fighting the Germans, Italians and Vichy French during 1940 and 1941, and later in the jungles of the South West Pacific Area fighting the Japanese between late 1941 and 1945. Following the Japanese surrender Australian Army units were deployed as occupation forces across the South West Pacific. Meanwhile, the Army contributed troops to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan from 1946. The Army was considerably expanded in early 1942 in response to the Japanese threat to Australia. During this year the Army's strength peaked at eleven infantry divisions and three armoured divisions, and in August 1942 the Army had a strength of 476,000 men. This force was larger than Australia's population and economy could sustain, and its strength was reduced in the second half of the year. Militia units were able to serve outside of Australian territory in the South West Pacific Area from January 1943 after the ''Defence (Citizen Military Forces) Act 1943'' was passed, but few did so. The Army was further reduced by 100,000 members from October 1943 to free up manpower for industry. At the end of 1943 the Army's strength was set at six infantry divisions and two armoured brigades, although further reductions were ordered in August 1944 and June 1945. The Australian Army generally had a long-standing policy of using British-designed equipment, but equipment from Australia, the United States and some other countries was introduced into service in the war's later years. Pre-war doctrine was focused on conventional warfare in a European environment and the Army did not have any doctrine for jungle warfare prior to 1943. In early 1943 the Army developed a jungle warfare doctrine by adapting the pre-war field service regulations to meet the conditions in the South West Pacific. The demands of combat during World War II led to changes in the composition of Army units. The success of German mechanised units during the invasions of Poland and France convinced Australian defence planners that the Army required armoured units, and these began to be raised in 1941. These units were not suitable for jungle warfare, however, and most were disbanded during 1943 and 1944. Conditions in the South West Pacific also led the Army to convert its six combat divisions to jungle divisions in early 1943 and 1944 with fewer heavy weapons and vehicles. This organisation proved only moderately successful, and the divisions were strengthened for their 1944–45 campaigns. The process of demobilisation began immediately after the end of hostilities in August 1945 and was finally completed on 15 February 1947. A total of 730,000 personnel enlisted in the Australian Army during the war, a figure which represented around 10 percent of the population. Nearly 400,000 men ultimately served overseas, with 40 percent of the total force serving in front line areas. As a proportion of its population, the Australian Army was ultimately one of the largest Allied armies during World War II. Casualties included 11,323 killed in action, 1,794 who died of wounds, and 21,853 wounded. Another 5,558 were killed or died as prisoners of war (POWs), while non-battle casualties in operational areas were also significant and included 1,088 killed and 33,196 wounded or injured. In addition, the Army suffered a substantial number of casualties in non-operational areas: 1,795 soldiers killed and 121,800 wounded or injured. ==Background== (詳細はMilitia. Throughout the inter-war years, a combination of complacency and economic austerity had resulted in limited defence spending. In 1929, following the election of the Scullin Labor government, conscription was abolished and in its place a new system was introduced whereby the Militia would be maintained on a part-time, voluntary basis only. The size of the Army remained small up until 1938 and 1939 when the Militia was rapidly expanded as the threat of war grew. In 1938, there had been only 35,000 soldiers in the Militia, but by September 1939 this had been increased to 80,000, supported by a PMF of 2,800 full-time soldiers whose main responsibility was largely to administer and train the Militia. This expansion had little impact on improving the readiness of Australian forces upon the outbreak of the war, though, as the provisions of the ''Defence Act 1903'' restricted the pre-war Army to service in Australia and its territories including Papua and New Guinea. As a result, when Australia entered the war in 1939, a new all-volunteer force was required that could fight in Europe or elsewhere outside of Australia's immediate region. (Similarly, in World War I the all-volunteer First Australian Imperial Force (First AIF) was raised and served with distinction at Gallipoli, in the Middle East and on the Western Front.) From the 1920s Australia's defence thinking was dominated by the "Singapore strategy", which centred on the establishment of a major naval base at Singapore and the use of naval forces to respond to any future Japanese aggression in the region. As a maritime strategy, it resulted in a defence budget that was focused on building up the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), in order to support the British Royal Navy. Between 1923 and 1929, £20,000,000 was spent on the RAN, while the Australian Army and the munitions industry received only £10,000,000 and the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) just £2,400,000. The strategy met significant political opposition from sections of the regular Army, including several prominent officers such as Henry Wynter and John Lavarack. Wynter in particular argued that war was most likely to break out in the Pacific at a time when Britain was involved in a crisis in Europe and would be unable to send sufficient resources to Singapore. He contended that Singapore was vulnerable, especially to attack from the land and the air, and argued for a more balanced policy of building up the Army and RAAF rather than relying on the RAN. During the 1930s the Australian Army's organisation, equipment and doctrine were similar to those of World War I. The Militia was organised into infantry and horse-mounted cavalry divisions with fixed coastal fortifications positioned at strategic ports. While the Army recognised that there was a threat of war with Japan, little had been done to prepare for jungle warfare as pre-war planning had conceptualised any such conflict as taking place in the main population centres of Australia's eastern seaboard, along with isolated attacks against strategic points in Western Australia. The Army followed the trends in the British Army as it modernised in the late 1930s, but was unable to obtain the up-to-date equipment needed to properly implement the new British doctrines and organisations due to a lack of resources as a result of limited defence expenditures. Nevertheless, the Militia provided a pool of experienced officers and soldiers who could be used to expand the Army in the event of war, and indeed during the course of the war about 200,000 Militia soldiers volunteered for overseas service. In 1942 the Army adopted the title Australian Military Forces (AMF) to encompass the various categories of service: AIF, Militia and Permanent Forces. Wartime exigencies required a rapid expansion of the Army and during the war 730,000 personnel enlisted in either the Militia or the AIF, a figure which represented around 10 percent of Australia's population of just seven million, one of the highest percentages of any of the Allied armies during World War II. It subsequently made an important contribution to the Allied campaigns in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa fighting the Germans, Italians and Vichy French during 1940 and 1941 as part of British Commonwealth forces, and later in the jungles of the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) fighting the Japanese between late 1941 and 1945 primarily in conjunction with forces from the United States. Nearly 400,000 men served overseas, with 40 percent of the total force serving in front line areas. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australian Army during World War II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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